Leak Regarding Obama's [The Kenyan's] Aunt Endangers Her

The Washington Independent ^ | 11/2/08 | Daphne Eviatar

[solfour]

By now, most people have heard about The Associated Press report that Sen. Barack Obama has a distant aunt –- his deceased father’s half-sister -– living in Boston who is an undocumented alien. They may also know that Zeituni Onyango, from Kenya, was denied political asylum by an immigration judge four years ago.

As Josh Micah Marshall at Talking Points Memo reported Saturday, Rep John Conyers (D-Mich), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee wrote an angry letter to Michael Chertoff, secretary of the Dept. of Homeland Security, saying the disclosure, by at least one “federal law enforcement official,” according to The AP, was “very disturbing” and warrants an investigation.

In fact, the disclosure wasn’t just disturbing –- it was either illegal, or it was approved directly by the U.S. attorney general. And, it endangered Onyango and any of her family that continue to live in Kenya.

According to the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, 8 CFR 208.6, it is illegal to disclose that a noncitizen has applied for political asylum, without her explicit consent “or at the discretion of the attorney general.”

The Supreme Court, in United States v. Ray, explained the reason: because the applicant or her family could be subject to retaliation in their home country.

[mjaneangels@aolcom]

“Apparently she was seeking asylum.”

Try again. She was denied asylum 4 years ago. She should have been long gone out of this country before last December’s election in Kenya.

[mjaneangels@aolcom]

“Someone exposes an Obama relative and now the gov’t is going on a which hunt to find who released the name?”

The article above shows a request for an investigation, not a response. Please show where you get the idea that there is an investigation in progress.

[solfour]

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